


Hide Away

by archaeologist_d



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Era, Canon Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-28 00:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14437233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archaeologist_d/pseuds/archaeologist_d
Summary: It only took one mistake and Merlin was on the run. Pre-episode 1. Canon AU.





	Hide Away

_I am not a stranger to the dark_   
_Hide away, they say_   
_'Cause we don't want your broken parts_   
_I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars_   
_Run away, they say_   
_No one'll love you as you are._

  
“This is Me” by Keala Settle

* * *

Huddling deeper into the lee of an oak tree, Merlin could feel how alive the forest was around him. The wind whispered overhead, making the leaves dance and the branches chase each other in a joyful embrace. Once in a while, there was a crack of wood against stone, startling him, but then the sweet cry of a dove cooing to its mate would remind Merlin that the forest was not his enemy and he could breathe again.

But he knew he’d have to move soon, keep going, getting further and further from his home. They’d been looking for him, at the creek where he’d often splash around, or the cave where he and Will used to pretend to be knights, or the little shepherd’s hut, stocked with bedding and food for a stormy night. In all the usual places. Looking for him.  

Looking for the monster.

As if saving old Man Simmons from a falling tree would make Merlin the villain. But once they, his neighbors, the kids he’d play with in the fields, the villagers who thought him funny or helpful or kind, knew who and what he was, they turned on him. As if he was nothing but a danger to them all. As if he was some kind of hideous fiend to be destroyed.

And they were hunting him now. With pitchforks and torches and hate.

He’d not had time to say good-bye to his mother and he hoped that they’d leave her alone at least. But he had to keep moving. He knew that if they did find him, they’d kill him and show his broken body to her and somehow that would be worse than dying.

So when the wind kicked up, and darkness fell, he left his hiding place, falling deeper and deeper into the shelter of the woods, looking for a safe haven for a little while at least. But he knew, too, that he’d have to come out at some point into civilization, for food, for supplies, for the sound of a voice, any voice, to remind him that he was more than a ghost in the wind, that he was still human.

And when he made another slip, they would be hunting him again, driving him back into isolation.  

Forever running, forever scarred by magic. Forever wishing to be normal just once and knowing, too, that he never would be.    

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; It and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
